Into the Woods

I am fortunate to walk into a forest on a regular basis, as my office is located in the 110 acre Alaska Botanical Garden. Snow, rain or shine, I walk up the path and take in the sights and smells of each season. Currently I’m kicking through the birch leaves and am transported to my childhood days in Iowa playing in large piles of elm leaves from the huge trees lining the street like a cathedral. My family’s back yard had a large oak tree, so lots of diving into piles of those leaves.

Native currants

Here in Alaska, the native currants have a nice color and a strong smell in the Fall. I remember thinking it reminded me of dirty socks when I moved here in 1984, but now it’s just part of the season.

The Boreal Forest

The Boreal Forest that I enter is largely Birch and White Spruce. There are large Cottonwood close to the nearby streams and Aspens on the hillsides. For the most part the Fall colors in our trees are yellow and the large Cottonwoods have more of a gold tint.

As they lose their leaves, it’s easier to discern the shapes of the trees. Although the Cottonwoods are messy street trees due to the cottony fluff from the females, they have a pleasing shape. In Winter they are easy to spot by their shape and the fact that Cottonwoods are generally taller than the rest of the forest.

I just returned from a trip to my hometown of Davenport, Iowa and was thrilled that the maples were turning red, a color we only see in the shrub layer and the forest floor here is Alaska. There are a few maples around Anchorage, but we are still test-driving varieties to get that great red Fall color. There are some promising varieties for our zone 4b.

Les feuilles pour aider les insectes

On the topic of leaves, we now have the Leave the Leaves campaign. (If this isn’t a Laidback Gardener initiative, I don’t know what is!) Both the Xerxes Society and the National Wildlife Federation encourage leaving not only leaves but hollow stems, trees , branches and brush for homes for wildlife. This includes insects too, such as caterpillars and bees. The books by Doug Tallamy would help explain the reasoning behind this movement. Bringing Nature Home and Nature’s Best Hope would make great gifts and great reading. You can find many of Doug’s talks on the Internet. If you are going to wait until Spring to clean up, wait until temperatures are above 50 because pollinators are still sleeping in the plant stems and leaves.

I recommend reading The Last Leaf by O. Henry. There is a film version too, with a couple of other stories. I often see one last leaf on a tree and am reminded of this heartwarming story. A last leaf is often fodder for the Sunday comics too.

And another perspective of traipsing into the woods and kicking through the leaves is the poem by Mary Oliver, How I go into the Woods.

How I go to the woods

Ordinarily, I go to the woods alone, with not a single
friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore
unsuitable.

I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds
or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my way of
praying, as you no doubt have yours.

Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit
on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds,
until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost
unhearable sound of the roses singing.

If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love
you very much.

? Mary Oliver, Swan: Poems and Prose Poems